November 28, 2013

Okay, just two days until we start our December Drinkalong with the Tea Advent Calendars! I just wanted to give you a few little pointers for happy loose leaf brewing...!

1) The most important ingredient in your tea is the WATER. Water should always be freshly boiled, and preferably filtered. I always use bottled water as I live in a horrible hard water area, and never remember to fill up the water jug!! If you get that nasty 'scum' on your tea then try to use bottled water.

2) Never reboil your water. It'll taste horrible, trust me.

3) If a tea is to be brewed at a temperature less than boiling, boil the water first and then let it cool, don't stop the water halfway as this will affect the oxygen levels in the water!! :) White tea is especially delicate and won't withstand boiling water.

4) Your tea sachets will contains 2-3 cups of tea if it's a loose leaf sachet. 1 tsp of tea per cup, although you may need a little more if you're using a big mug!

5) For the first few days be a little bit shy with the amount of tea you use, until you can judge how much you like in your cup. If your tea is a little weak in flavour, use more tea, DON'T leave the tea in for longer. Leaving the tea in water for longer than suggested will increase the level of tannins in the tea, which is what produces that bitter flavour. 2-3 mins for white teas and green teas, and 3 mins for black teas should produce a good brew.

6) Always time your tea! Just use the stopwatch on your phone - I bet you're already reading Facebook whilst waiting for the kettle to boil anyway! ;)

6) Fruit teas and herbal infusions are NOT teas, and therefore can take a longer infusion time, and need a longer brewing time to extract the flavours and nice rich colour. Having said that, don't leave them in there all day!!

7) Follow our guide on serving suggestions! I suggest making one cup how we do, and then tweaking your second cup if you need to. Having said that, if you know you like extra lemon in your Earl Grey then just go for it!!

I've designed the tea advent calendars to be fun and enjoyable, and to introduce you to a wide range of teas. If you're not sure what you're doing then get in touch, we're here to help! Find us on Facebook or pop us an email to hello@posttea.co and we'll get back to you as quickly as we can!